diff --git a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
index 84b8ad01c..419505aa8 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
@@ -166,10 +166,6 @@ class TerminalController: NSWindowController, NSWindowDelegate,
     private func syncAppearance() {
         guard let window = self.window as? TerminalWindow else { return }
         
-        let backgroundColor = OSColor(ghostty.config.backgroundColor)
-        let appearance = NSAppearance(named: backgroundColor.isLightColor ? .aqua : .darkAqua)
-        window.appearance = appearance
-
         // Set the font for the window and tab titles.
         if let titleFontName = ghostty.config.windowTitleFontFamily {
             window.titlebarFont = NSFont(name: titleFontName, size: NSFont.systemFontSize)
@@ -177,6 +173,7 @@ class TerminalController: NSWindowController, NSWindowDelegate,
             window.titlebarFont = nil
         }
 
+        let backgroundColor = OSColor(ghostty.config.backgroundColor)
         window.backgroundColor = backgroundColor
         window.titlebarColor = backgroundColor.withAlphaComponent(ghostty.config.backgroundOpacity)
         window.updateTabBar()
@@ -257,6 +254,11 @@ class TerminalController: NSWindowController, NSWindowDelegate,
 
         // This makes sure our titlebar renders correctly when there is a transparent background
         window.titlebarColor = backgroundColor.withAlphaComponent(ghostty.config.backgroundOpacity)
+        
+        // Make sure our theme is set on the window so styling is correct.
+        if let windowTheme = ghostty.config.windowTheme {
+            window.windowTheme = .init(rawValue: windowTheme)
+        }
 
         // Handle titlebar tabs config option. Something about what we do while setting up the
         // titlebar tabs interferes with the window restore process unless window.tabbingMode
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalWindow.swift b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalWindow.swift
index a5cd51264..070ad46dc 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalWindow.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalWindow.swift
@@ -75,11 +75,15 @@ class TerminalWindow: NSWindow {
             tab.attributedTitle = attributedTitle
         }
     }
+    
+    // The window theme configuration from Ghostty. This is used to control some
+    // behaviors that don't look quite right in certain situations.
+    var windowTheme: TerminalWindowTheme?
 
     // We only need to set this once, but need to do it after the window has been created in order
     // to determine if the theme is using a very dark background, in which case we don't want to
     // remove the effect view if the default tab bar is being used since the effect created in
-    // `updateTabsForVeryDarkBackgrounds`.
+    // `updateTabsForVeryDarkBackgrounds` creates a confusing visual design.
     private var effectViewIsHidden = false
 
     override func becomeKey() {
@@ -119,6 +123,24 @@ class TerminalWindow: NSWindow {
     override func update() {
         super.update()
 
+        if titlebarTabs {
+            updateTabsForVeryDarkBackgrounds()
+            // This is called when we open, close, switch, and reorder tabs, at which point we determine if the
+            // first tab in the tab bar is selected. If it is, we make the `windowButtonsBackdrop` color the same
+            // as that of the active tab (i.e. the titlebar's background color), otherwise we make it the same
+            // color as the background of unselected tabs.
+            if let index = windowController?.window?.tabbedWindows?.firstIndex(of: self) {
+                windowButtonsBackdrop?.isHighlighted = index == 0
+            }
+        }
+
+        updateResetZoomTitlebarButtonVisibility()
+
+        // The remainder of the styles we only apply if we're on "auto" theming
+        // because they conflict with the appearance being forced a certain
+        // direction. See issue #1709.
+        guard let windowTheme, windowTheme == .auto else { return }
+
 		titlebarSeparatorStyle = tabbedWindows != nil && !titlebarTabs ? .line : .none
 
 		if !effectViewIsHidden {
@@ -137,20 +159,8 @@ class TerminalWindow: NSWindow {
 			effectViewIsHidden = true
 		}
 
-		if titlebarTabs {
-			updateTabsForVeryDarkBackgrounds()
-			// This is called when we open, close, switch, and reorder tabs, at which point we determine if the
-			// first tab in the tab bar is selected. If it is, we make the `windowButtonsBackdrop` color the same
-			// as that of the active tab (i.e. the titlebar's background color), otherwise we make it the same
-			// color as the background of unselected tabs.
-			if let index = windowController?.window?.tabbedWindows?.firstIndex(of: self) {
-				windowButtonsBackdrop?.isHighlighted = index == 0
-			}
-		}
-
         updateNewTabButtonOpacity()
-		updateNewTabButtonImage()
-		updateResetZoomTitlebarButtonVisibility()
+        updateNewTabButtonImage()
     }
 
     override func updateConstraintsIfNeeded() {
@@ -626,3 +636,9 @@ fileprivate class WindowButtonsBackdropView: NSView {
         layer?.addSublayer(overlayLayer)
     }
 }
+
+enum TerminalWindowTheme: String {
+    case auto
+    case light
+    case dark
+}